Never leave a reporter, alone, in a room, with a number

Never leave a reporter, alone, in a room, with a number

Rothschild family: net worth estimated at up to $700 trillion One of the wealthiest and most influential families in the world, the banking dynasty was founded in the 1760s. Because the family’s wealth is private, it’s difficult to ascertain its net worth – estimates range all the way up to a staggering $700 trillion, split between legions of descendants. The philanthropic clan has interests in real estate, art and wine. The World’s Richest Families’ staggering wealth According to Credit Suisse,…

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‘The idea of free information is extremely dangerous’

‘The idea of free information is extremely dangerous’

Why is liberalism under particular threat from big data? Liberalism is based on the assumption that you have privileged access to your own inner world of feelings and thoughts and choices, and nobody outside you can really understand you. This is why your feelings are the highest authority in your life and also in politics and economics – the voter knows best, the customer is always right. Even though neuroscience shows us that there is no such thing as free…

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Mean world syndrome

Mean world syndrome

At a local comic con, of all places, a cosplayer and recent sociology graduate introduced me to the term “mean world syndrome”. Mean world syndrome is a term coined by George Gerbner to describe a phenomenon whereby violence-related content of mass media makes viewers believe that the world is more dangerous than it actually is. Source: Mean world syndrome – Wikipedia She says sociology, as a field, suffers from mean world syndrome as all they do today is study things…

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Update – “Average renter can’t afford their apartment”

Update – “Average renter can’t afford their apartment”

A few months ago, a news item spread saying that the “average renter” or “minimum wage renter” cannot afford a one bedroom apartment. But that is not what the study actually said. The study picked a price point equal to the 40th percentile of rental unit price distributions. In general, those earning a single minimum wage income are usually not able to afford a one bedroom apartment at the 40th percentile. They can afford lower cost units in the market below…

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Climate communications Update: Polar bears, social media, and how our emotional response may have helped a PR stunt

Climate communications Update: Polar bears, social media, and how our emotional response may have helped a PR stunt

Update: National Geographic has retracted the claims made about a widely viewed photo of a starving polar bear. The photos and video were seen by an estimated 2.5 billion people and purported to show the effects of climate change. Nat Geo has retracted the claim and the photographer admits they were seeking a photo to be used for propaganda messaging. Details are in our now updated original post: Polar bears, social media, and how our emotional response may have helped…

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How legislators use propaganda methods to pass new laws

How legislators use propaganda methods to pass new laws

How propaganda techniques are used to promote legislation. In this case, a specific individual is highlighted to emotionally hook others into supporting the bill. Arguments for the first law were shaped by referring to it as “Max’s Law” to connect it to a specific individual. Arguments for the second law were shaped by referring to it as “Jenna’s Law”. The key technique is to personalize the topic to emotionally engage the target that needs persuading: legislators, and potentially lobbyists and…

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Fake propaganda poster has almost everything wrong

Fake propaganda poster has almost everything wrong

The only part of this propaganda poster that is true is that FactCheck.org did write about Snopes in 2009 but rather than finding it to be a “liberal propaganda site” they said Snopes.com is solid and well documented”. See how easy it is to create a viral propaganda poster for social media sharing? Source: FACT CHECK: Was Snopes.com ‘BUSTED’ for Our CEO’s Ties to George Soros?

Who shares fake news on social media? You do.

Who shares fake news on social media? You do.

“On the left if you’re consuming fake news you’re 34 times more likely than the general population to be a college graduate,” says Green. If you’re on the right, he says, you’re 18 times more likely than the general population to to be in the top 20 percent of income earners. And the study revealed another disturbing trend: the more you consume fake news, the more likely you are to vote. It’s “fascinating and frightening at the same time,” says…

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Broward public schools seeks to hire a propaganda specialist to “fix” the public, rather than fix the problem

Broward public schools seeks to hire a propaganda specialist to “fix” the public, rather than fix the problem

When everything is wrong, hire a propaganda specialist to persuade others that things are great because … propaganda! The South Florida Sun Sentinel has reported on how Stoneman Douglas under-reported crime on campus, how the school failed to provide adequate special education services to killer Nikolas Cruz; and how a culture of leniency has allowed unruly students to receive countless second chances. The school district also struggled to defend its controversial PROMISE program, which offers alternatives to arrests for some…

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Fake photo re- purposed for propaganda message, once again

Fake photo re- purposed for propaganda message, once again

This is getting old – an old photo is re-purposed to pretend it represents something else in a Tweet on Twitter. The photo was taken from Getty Images, of a protest in Tahrir, Egypt in 2011. It appears in multiple locations online. Has nothing to do with Tommy Robinson or Trump or the UK. Note that the tweet has been liked nearly 10,000 times and shared 7,600 times. This is a very common technique used in social media propaganda messages…

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